My Favorite Spices – Let’s get spicy!

A few weeks ago, I was rereading a random post while looking for a recipe.  The recipe called for dried dill.  A reader commented that they didn’t have dried dill at home.  Tanner, was that you?  I can’t find the post again.

My jaw was on the floor.  A life without dill is not a life I’d like to be living!

That got me thinking about my favorite spices.  In no particular order, spices I can’t live without are:

• Dill
• Fresh garlic (I used to buy the stuff in the jar, until I got the best garlic press ever made, and realized how easy it is (and delicious) to use fresh garlic.  I’m so sad I missed out on fresh garlic for so long)
• McCormicks Montreal Steak Seasoning.  Oh my goodness, we use this on everything!  Ironically, I’m not sure if we’ve ever used it on steak.  It is amazing on grilled chicken and grilled veggies.  Eternal gratitude for my friend Elaina who turned me on to this.
• Smoked Paprika.  Hot damn, I love the stuff!
• Good sea salt (I use Real Salt, or as Troy likes to joke like a jackass “not fake salt”), and freshly ground pepper.
• Kosher salt.  Amazing for roasted chicken, awesome on top of homemade pretzel rolls, and on oven roasted veggies.

Spices I am pretty sure that I have never used:

• Marjoram.  Never owned it.
• Curry.  I.HATE.CURRY!!
• Saffron.  Can’t afford it.  Wouldn’t know what to do with it!

But more than anything, I want to know what kind of spices YOU love.  I adore reading about your adventures in the kitchen!  What are your favorites?